Have you ever gone to a store, been greeted by a store associate offering their help, declined with a polite “No thank you, I am just looking,” and after a few minutes of search for this special item in vain, cursed that you should have taken this person’s offer?

With the advances made by voice recognition apps that have reached human-like threshold[1], there is no reason to pass on the opportunity to use voice assistants to enhance the shopping experience and delight customers.

As 40% of consumers will use voice assistants by 2020, conversational commerce is poised to revolutionize the way we shop, according to our recent Capgemini Survey of 5,000 consumers across the US, UK, France and Germany[2]. Growth is fueled not only by consumers who appreciate smart speakers for the convenience, speed, and ability to multi-task, but also by retailers who want to scale personalization, supplement store associates, and expand aisles while occupying smaller store formats.

Capgemini’s PVA is integrated with Salesforce CRM to provide customers quick access to their loyalty and personal account information. With a quick scan of a QR code, customers can easily access their accounts to find points accrued, points due to expire, promotional offers, etc. Customers have an option to provide their size, style preferences while updating their profile, so the PVA can provide more personalized recommendations. This feature also helps retailers gain better insights on shopping preferences and patterns to use when creating merchandising and promotional plans.